Never say these phrases to your customers

I don’t use it myself – A customer will get a huge amount of relief knowing that you have used a product so you can assure them it is a great purchase. If you believe in the product yourself, you are more likely to make the sale.

Even if you haven’t used the exact product, think of what you have used which ties in with it e.g. you have used a product from the same brand, or you have used one very similar. Anything that will put the customer’s mind at ease, if you haven’t used any at all you are best just not mentioning it as they don’t need to know.

Unfortunately not – This is a polite way of saying no, and a good customer service professional will never say no. Try offering alternatives and better options which may be suited to the customer. If you say no they will stop listening to you immediately which means anything you offer after this won’t be of interest to them anyway.

That’s a different department – Customers don’t care that they haven’t rung the right department and that your job doesn’t cover that area. They want the quickest solution, not the ins and outs of your company structure. Simply say “I know who can help you with that” or “x is the best person to speak to in that area.”

It’s not our fault – Even if it isn’t your fault, your customer still likes to know that you care about them and how they are feeling. The first thing you should do is apologise even if it’s just that you are sorry they are upset.

It seems – By saying this it implies that you are not taking their experience seriously. For example, if you say “it seems that you were unhappy with your service today.” It conveys that you don’t believe their service was bad. This will annoy customers, instead, you should say “We are sorry you were unhappy with your service today.”

It’s company policy – If a customer is angry they want reasons and explanations. Simply stating it’s company policy is going to annoy them even more. You should tell them why something is company policy, below is a great example of how to humanise your company and explain policies.

We have a cheaper version – You should never refer to your products as cheap as these lower the quality of the product in your customer’s mind. Whilst also making the customer feel uncomfortable about purchasing a ‘cheap product’ because they can’t afford the more expensive one. Instead, use words like ‘affordable’ and ‘inexpensive’.